Archive for June 12th, 2007

I read Thomas’ Snowsuit by Robert Munsch twice today, to Reid’s delight as she loves supplying the “NNNNo” to all mentions of Thomas putting on his snowsuit and to Ken’s dismay as he seems as unimpressed by them as Reid is impressed. We also read:

What Moms Cant Do by Douglas Wood, read by Ken because he hadn’t read it before, at least not a thousand times;

Mama Loves by Rebecca Kai Dotlich, I like how Mama loves different things with each child, including “Her feet bare and free. Hiking and biking and being with me.” Sometimes just being with Reid is wonderful; and

Hippos Go Beserk! by Sandra Boynton, a quick read before bed, if a little rowdier than I would usually choose.

When we go to or from Melissa’s, we almost always drive by a fire station. Last night, on the way home we saw a pumper truck and a bunch of firefighters out in front spraying the grass. I slowed for Reid to see better but she couldn’t see it very well and told me so loudly. I turned around and went back and we saw that there was another vehicle stopped in the parking lot. We climbed out and the fire chief came over to explain that they were practicing. They’d set up a big yellow “corral” filled with water and were sucking water from it and through the pumper truck. We’d just read the book, Barn on Fire, at Melissa’s and in it the firefighters pumped water from a pond and so it was neat to be able to point out the comparison to the book. The fire chief also explained that the red helmets are worn by the chiefs, yellow helmets are worn by the firefighters on the line and white helmets are for bigger chiefs. After watching for a few minutes, we got back into the car and Reid wanted to talk about the helmets. She has a red helmet and so that means she is a boss. She wanted to know what helmet Daddy and I would have. I laughed and said that I would want a white one and Daddy would say that he’d have the yellow one. All the while, Reid was nodding and smiling. It made sense to her that I’d want to be the big boss.

Melissa invited us for supper and a swim last night. Reid and I accepted but Ken stayed behind to clean his office, swimming really isn’t his favourite activity. Once we were poolside, Reid put on her lifejacket by herself and then grudgingly decided I could do up the buckles. She spent some time sitting on the steps but was soon propelling herself around the pool. It was surprising how bold she was and how quickly she learned how to twist her body to flip from her back to her front. I imagine it takes quite a bit of strength since the life jacket is designed to flip her onto her back. Reid didn’t like being on her back, though. I still got a few holding-on-for-dear-life hugs while we were in the pool but I was also kicked off the pool noodle that we were riding like a horse. Reid’s “diddy up, diddy up” and great big smile, filled with pride in her accomplishment, made up for the pool noodle. Now we have to continue to watch her like a hawk because she still gets water in her mouth when she swims around and she is bold. Just what I said I wasn’t sad to be missing.